It’s really hard to get a good feel for Turks and Caicos from Provo.  It’s also very hard to find a native.  The town has a very diverse mix of Dominicans, Haitians, Filipinos, Asians, Canadians and Americans.  I think this is all driven by the rampant construction here.  Provo does have some good shopping, such as an IGA grocery store, a big home improvement store and something we haven’t seen since Florida….. a bookstore!

We rented a car after we ended up walking 2 miles to the IGA and the bookstore.  As we left the bookstore we asked the clerk if we could call a taxi.  She told us to go up to the bus stop shelter on the main road.  A white van should be along soon.  The van would beep its horn and you would wave at it if you wanted a ride.  The cost was $2.00 person.  She also said that if we didn’t find a taxi, we could ride with anyone who pulled over.  It was perfectly safe.

We stood outside the bus stop and within about a minute a small white van stops and lets some people off.  It was the official taxi, but it was too crowded.  A horn honked and a small car pulled up to offer us a ride.  The windows were all smoked glass, and it already had 3 people in it.  The driver was Haitian and we really couldn’t communicate anyway so we waved him on.  Right behind him, a huge semi truck pulls up and honks.  Dan and I look at each other.  No way are we getting into that.  Next thing I know Dan has some other questionable car pulled over and we all pile in.   We were delivered safe and sound to the marina.  It’s funny, we would never have done that in Charlotte.

The next day we were at Scooter Bob’s renting a car. This worked out well as we had some provisioning to do.  The prices here aren’t bad so we stocked up.  Provo isn’t bad: I guess it is just hard for me to see so much commercialism after the Bahamas.